Under the terms of the investment, MPOWER Ventures has rebranded the company MPOWER Mobile, Inc. and relocated the company headquarters to Austin, Texas.

Co-founders Moneet Singh and Neeraj Bansal remain executives of the company. Singh oversees daily operations and product development as President and Chief Operating Officer, and Bansal leads and manages MPOWER Mobile's strategic relationships as Executive Vice President, business development. Sapphire's former CEO Richard A. Rasansky now serves as an advisor to the company.

"We are proud to be part of the MPOWER family and see the principals of MPOWER Ventures as partners who wholly share our belief in the power of disruptive technologies to create social change," commented Singh. "We chose MPOWER Ventures as our investment partner over more traditional firms because the ability to collaborate with MPOWER Labs accelerates our development and allows us to focus where we can create the most value and generate the greatest social impact. That's with developing innovative products and services that bring financial empowerment to previously inaccessible markets."

The investment from MPOWER Ventures will support product development and expansion into global markets. The value of the investment was not disclosed. MPOWER Mobile plans to debut its first products in the third quarter of 2008.

"This is a key investment for MPOWER Ventures given the enormous potential for mobile channels to deliver financial empowerment to underserved consumers worldwide," said Roy Sosa, managing partner, MPOWER Ventures.